Family Picture

 

Our family on Nov 24th, 2012. Autumn will be 6 on the 30th! Can't believe it's been that long.

Some Family Photos

Here are some recent and not so recent family pictures.

Autumn, Erica and Kurt May 2012

Erica and Autumn May 2012

Autumn, Erica, Kurt and Shadow August 2011

Kurt, Erica, Autumn Dec 2011

Kurt, Autumn and Erica August 2010

Autumn and Amanda (birthmom) Dec 2011

Autumn and Amanda July 2011

Dinos at the MN Zoo

Autumn is a dinosaur (nut? obsessed 5 yr old? crazed girl?) well, you get the picture. :) The MN zoo has a traveling exhibit this summer filled with life sized anamatronic dinosaurs. We have been 3 times so far and will probably go a few more times before it leaves in September. She just gets SOOOO excited when we reach that part of the zoo it's hard to slow her down. These are in no particular order....

Autumn and Mommy (Erica) and Brachiosaurus (baby)

Autumn riding a Parasaurolophus

Autumn and Pachycephalosaurus

Autumn with her hot chocolate waiting for the grand opening of the dinosaurs. (we got there a bit early)

The entrance to the dinosaurs.

Dilophosaurus - he spits water at you, watch out! (would have been acid in reality)

A Parasaurolophus nest

Euoplocephalus

T-Rex (Rexy to Autumn) in the mist. It poured about 10 minutes after we finished our tour on opening day.

Did I mention that it POURED?

Autumn's FAVORITE dino: Rexy. She'd like him for a pet.

Autumn the fierce dino hunter

Mommy, another fierce dino hunter

Quetzalcoatlus.......and her offspring?

Our most recent visit was today (June 30th) and Aunt Kelly (Kurt's sister) went with us. Here they are riding a baby T-Rex. Even he is too big for our backyard.

Facebook Badge

Hmmmmm, I have no idea what happened to the Facebook badge I had on the right side of this blog. The link still works, I just tried it. I have to remember how I got the badge so I can fix it.

What We Do For Fun

This is Autumn and her cousin Isaac at Thanksgiving.

Autumn's birthday is shortly after Thanksgiving so we hold it at our house and have an open invitation to both sides of the family to come for dinner. Then we have Autumn's birthday party as well. We love getting together with family.

Autumn and Erica making Christmas ornaments as presents for family and friends

Making presents is so much more fun, not only do you get to get messy but they are more personal and we just love doing crafty things.

Cooking is lots of fun, Autumn learned how to knead the dough, it's her favorite part now.

Autumn wants to help cook supper almost every night now, takes a bit of planning so that we still eat at a decent hour but I love having her help me.

putting the toppings on a pizza is an art form

Playing with cousin Becca at Grandma and Grandpa Triebenbach's house.

We had record amounts of snow last year. So much fun playing in piles that were taller even than Daddy.

Grandma Petersen and Autumn, quiet Sunday drive

Autumn "fixing" her bike while Daddy is under the car changing the oil.

Kurt grew up working on cars with his dad, Erica did too (with her dad). And now Autumn will get the same thing with Kurt. It's so great that she will grow up to be a woman who knows about her car and will be able to deal with things that go wrong.

About Kurt (by Erica)

Kurt is a rock in my life. Right from the start I knew he was someone I could trust with my heart. We met in college in the choir. Having a passion for music in common opened up many avenues to discover about each other. We dated for 4 years and then got married after college.Kurt has been a wonderful husband for the past almost 12 years. He is a great father to Autumn. He gets down on the floor and plays silly games with her, he gives her the rough and tumble play that she loves. Kurt has gotten really good at noticing things around the house that need to be don and helps do them so that I'm not totally worn out and have more energy for both of them.

Kurt has had strength for both of us when I felt that I didn't have any to get through our battle with infertility. He was patient with me as I struggled to understand God's plan for our family.

Kurt loves to play basketball and is thrilled that Autumn enjoys it as well. Kurt taught himself to play the guitar and now plays with the praise team at church, occasionally leading it when the director is out of town. Kurt wrote and produced a CD of original music and is now working on a second one. It's been fun to watch his writing mature as he not only matures in life but also in his faith. Kurt loves to share other favorite pasttimes with Autumn. She is VERY musically inclined so we both encourage that when ever we can. Autumn likes to do what Daddy is doing so she likes to play on the Wii with him, get out her tools and "fix" her bike while he works on the car, they also enjoy just being silly.

playing Daddy's guitar

playing Wii with Daddy

yep, that's a box she's standing in. Her favorite toy ever

being silly

I like the slimy parts Daddy.

first we built a snowman then a snow T-Rex

wheelbarrow ride

you play this one right here

ok, ready to play

Our Agency

We are working with an agency to help us through our adoption process. They have completed our home study and also provide resources to help us find our child. They have a book of prospective adoptive families that the women and couples who are considering adoption can look through to find a forever family for their child. But they also have developed an outreach program to help families connect with a "birthday mommy" (our daughter's term for her own birth mom) on their own. If you would like to know more about us or our agency we have provided information and links below. We are home study approved and ready to bring another child into our lives as well as that child's birth parent(s).




Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota
612-879-5230  or  1-888-205-3769


LSS Adoption & Birth Parent Services
2400 Park Avenue
Minneapolis, MN  55404


Our Social Worker: Sarah Daecy
Office: 612.879.5237  |  Cell: 218.340.5993  |  TOLL FREE: 1.888.205.3769

• Pregnancy Counseling
• Adoption Services for prospective adoptive families
• Post Adoption Services for birth families, adoptive families, adopted children and adults